


Lapse of Judgement

by InterNutter



Category: Church (Short Film 2019)
Genre: AU, Gen, Toasty Made Me Do It
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-23
Updated: 2019-09-23
Packaged: 2020-10-27 02:24:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20752778
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InterNutter/pseuds/InterNutter
Summary: Me on the Stream Chat: Both of them feeling trapped in different waysMe: If she tried to do anything, they'd throw her in the arena and dominate Ash's bodDreamer372: INTERMe: What? They wouldToasty: Someone write that AUMe: OKAnd that's how this happened.





	Lapse of Judgement

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I love Toasty’s angst juice and she told me to do this so ner.

“Heresy!”

There was no trial. Just the light whips. The knife across her chest. A fist in her face… The next thing she knew, she was in the Penitent’s cage with a copper Divinity symbol in her hand and the pain of a new tattoo on her chest.

The black circle was still bleeding from the tattooist’s needle, as well as the cut of the knife. They hadn’t even given her time to heal.

There was no roaring crowd. The moon was high. In the stands and bleachers were the assembled army of the Church, silently judging.

Sanga knew what this was. She’d seen it as a child, when a disgraced Divine was put in the arena with the old Executioner. Now she was facing Ashivon on the sands of death. Her only weapon was that of the faith she had betrayed. A useless circle of copper that weighed less than an apple.

What they couldn’t know was that she had the only weapon none could take from her. Ashivon had taught her his language - Intsehli. She spoke it shakingly, true, and mangled the accent and pronunciation… but hearing his own words might just be the edge she needed.

She could see Carnius in an observation nook, protected by thick, metal bars. Watching and waiting to see whether or not their Executioner would follow his cruel and harsh training. If he didn’t… there was always the Divine Domination. Handlers like him could always override an Executioner’s will, making him slaughter a Penitent.

They had done it earlier in the day. Beating Ashivon close to death and then forcing him to kill a child. They would do it again, now. Making Ashivon kill his closest and only friend. Sanga knew the copper circle in her hand would do nothing against the fighting might of an Intseh. These were, after all, creatures who could take down a fully-grown man at the age of ten.

The Church knew that she didn’t have a hope. Well. They thought she didn’t have a hope. They expected her to die.

Ashivon walked up to her. Only she could see that he was filled with shame and regret. He knew what was expected of him, just as she knew what they expected to happen. He said, “I’m sorry. I don’t want to.”

She said, “I know.” Because she knew she was dead anyway, she reached out to touch him kindly one last time. A hand to his cheek. A gentle scratch behind his ear that she knew he liked.

He put his arms behind himself, as if expecting to be bound for transport. He knew that if he dared embrace her again, they would take him over and that would be the end of it.

Someone started a chant. “Blood, blood, blood, blood…”

It was whispered, and therefore eerie in its relative quiet. It put chills right up Sanga’s spine as more and more of the crowd took up the chant. Those people up there had once counted as allies. Companions. She had even thought of a few of them as friends. Perfectly nice people fighting to live another day, just like her.

Now they were calling for her blood, as if they hadn’t known her name. As if they had never gossipped with her in idle moments. As if they had never greeted her with a smile in the labyrinthine hallways of the greater Church complex. As if they hadn’t joked with her, or moaned about some of the more arduous tasks they had to perform. As if they hadn’t whined about Abstinence Week, when the only food available was thin gruel and hard bread, and the only drink was water that, despite everyone’s best efforts, smelled funny.

...as if they’d never known her at all.

Sanga took a pace backwards when she saw Carnius move. She knew what he was doing, now. Using his own rage and fury to dominate Ashivon’s own inclinations. Making Ashivon his puppet.

He could fight it. He had fought it before. They had had to beat him to a pulp to make it work again. He could fight it again.

Sanga began with a rhyme Ashivon had taught her. A child’s song that they had laughed together at singing. It was enough to help him fight it. Sanga kept watch on Carnius. He could not repeat what he had done to make Ashivon attack that child. Not for this. There was little to get Ashivon back from the brink of death now that Sanga would not be around to heal him. No other servant of the Divine could heal as strongly as she could. No other servant of the Divine was willing to heal an Executioner.

Unless they were willing to get another one… which was an ominous thought in the back of Sanga’s mind. They had summoned Ashivon from wherever his home was when Thunder Mountain was still the Executioner. They might already be fetching another Intseh child from his home.

They had to act quickly.  _ “Ashivon, I know you can fight this influence on you. You didn’t want to hurt a child, and I know you don’t want to hurt me. If you fight it, they will send in beaters. If you can fight it long enough, we can fight them…” _ The circle of copper wouldn’t be much good against a light staff, but she could think of a way. She had spent her entire childhood using non-weapons in creative ways against people who  _ had _ weapons, after all. She had once used a cloth poppet stuffed with sawdust to fend off an older boy who had a wooden sword.

A stolen light staff would only be good for one blow, but Sanga knew how to make it  _ count _ .

_ “Watch the door behind me. I watch the door behind you. We take the other’s attackers by surprise. Turn your anger their way.” _

Ashivon, still fighting Carnius’ influence, said,  _ “Yes. I can do.” _

She could see him fighting the rage. Giving it an outlet… The whispering chant of, “Blood, blood, blood,” kept on in the bleachers. Some were slapping the stonework.

There! One of the Divine Soldiers was trying to sneak up on Ashivon, light staff already channelled and ready to attack.  _ “When I say ‘duck’,” _ she prompted.

_ “When I say ‘dodge left’,” _ he countered.

Great. They were coming from both sides. Sanga kept murmuring Intsehli.  _ “They’re more than likely to believe I’m working on an unholy covenant or something. The one approaching you is scared. Hesitant. They’re winding up. DUCK!” _

Ashivon dropped like a stone,  _ “Dodge left!” _ He went around her right as she charged the Divine behind him. They’d just swung, and couldn’t easily recover.

Sanga used the edge of her Divine symbol, points towards her foe and edge on, to strike at an arm as she grabbed the lightstaff. One quick twist in the right direction and she had it spinning at their head. One down, and when she turned, the other was also down. The lightstaff faded out.  _ “This way! Weapons this way!” _

Ashivon raced after her. Those fools had left the doors open so the Divine Soldiers could have a quick retreat. Any guard at the doors would be retreating because she had a Demon on her side. If they were lucky, there wouldn’t be any of them nearby.

Sanga had once walked every hallway and corridor in the Church complex, counting paces and finding things long forgotten or things long abandoned and… one lonely child far from home who needed a friend. She remembered where the Church kept things. Where the Church did things.

If they had summoned a new Intseh child, they needed to get him the hell out of this torture farm.

There was one guard remaining at his post broke and left it when he saw Ashivon. The alarm would be sounding, soon, but Sanga needed something she could use to hurt, wound, or incapacitate as many people as she could on the way out. She found a storeroom and snatched up the first weapon that came to her hand. Just in time, one of the bolder Soldiers had crept up on them, and one swift blow sent them down.

Sanga’s next destination with the summoning room, which was empty and dark, but the candles were still smoking. They had used the room recently!

Ashivon’s nose saved them, this time, leading them both on a path that showed a small Intseh child bracketed between two Keepers with their gloves on, ushering the poor little boy towards a life of pain and torment. He instantly snarled and pounced on the rear guard, leaving Sanga to take on the one who was leading.

_ “They lie, child. Come with us, we will take you out of here.” _

The child looked to Sanga, shocked at her grasp of the language.

_ “Please,” _ said Ashivon.  _ “I’ve survived this place. I know how bad it is.” _

There were Soldiers coming.  _ “Hurry,” _ said Sanga.  _ “I’d rather run than fight.” _

They ran. They ran hard and fast. They had to fight, swapping custody of the Intseh child from one person’s arm to another until they were free of the larger complex, until they were free of the city. Until they were running, hand in hand, the hell away from that singular pit of darkness.

It didn’t matter where they were going, just that they were free.


End file.
